Holidays

I brought these lamb shanks last week thinking I would cook them around Easter–but we ended up spending the entire easter weekend with my husband’s family, which was fabulous! I didn’t have to worry about a thing {besides the church talk I have to give on Easter Sunday!} But since the lamb shanks had to be used by today, I decided to cook them up for no special reason or occasion… just a regular old tuesday evening {made a little less regular by this delicious dinner!} I know braised meats and pomegranates are often associated with winter time, so this recipe is a little “out of place” but to me, there is no better way to cook lamb shanks–than in a delicious, rich flavorful gravy, that makes the meat so tender it falls right off the bone! I loved the sweet pomegranate with the salty carrots and meat–and it also “dressed it up” adding some much-needed color with the thyme. So if you guys are thinking of making some lamb before it goes out for the Easter season for no special reason at all, or even for a nice, sunday dinner–you guys should give this recipe a go! You will love it.More

I tried my first ever olive tapenade a few months ago–until then, I had never even heard of one, so for those of you in the same boat, a tapenade is basically a spread consisting of chopped olives or capers or anchovies with olive oil! A reader of mine also commented he uses figs in his, which would be delicious! My mother in law found a pre-made tapenade from costco, spread it on some flat bread and topped it with prosciutto, fresh buffalo mozzarella and cherry tomatoes, and we were all obsessed. I have been thinking of ways to use tapenade ever since…. in pretty much everything.

Carrots are something that I always have on hand — somehow in such abundance that I never know what to do with them, other than feed them to our tiny little hamster, and recently a little bunny that has been hopping all around our yard {the kids go out and feed him, they’re convinced he’s the easter bunny!} Even trying to pawn off carrots on our fury little friends, we still have crazy amounts sitting in our fridge… so I thought i’d use half to make a delicious carrot cake for easter this week, and the other half to make this delicious carrot soup.More

Easter is the only time of year they sell lamb in tricities, {where I do my grocery shopping}, so this week I was really excited to make a roast leg of lamb with a classic mint sauce, english roast potatoes and gravy, just like my Mum used to make around Easter. However, when I got to the lamb section, I found minced lamb, lamb chops, lamb shoulder chops, and lamb shanks… pretty much everything besides the leg that I was looking for! So I decided to roll with it, and make something a little different.

The other day my four-year old son asked if we could have salmon for dinner– which kind of sent me into a state of shock, because the only thing he only ever requests and eats is mac n cheese! So of course, I jumped at the chance to make him something a little different, and a lot more healthy, {and I love salmon too!} I found the idea for this recipe in my all time favorite food magazine that my mum and sister brought over for me from England last year, and I got to cross of just one of the hundred recipes I wanted to try from it! I made my little guy a plain lemon and butter salmon filet, but I wanted something less boring a little “different!” I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off, and make the filo frills look pretty, or taste good, but I was shocked at how fun and EASY this was to make! Dinner was ready in under 30 minutes, although it seemed like I had put a lot more time and effort into it! I LOVE that! We need to have salmon more often, and i’m also excited to play around a lot more with filo too.More

About Me

Hi, i’m Sarah. Welcome to “Mattawa Mum” a place for me to share my life as an English stay at home Mum of two, in a small American farm town known as Mattawa. Life out here in the middle of nowhere has been one hard adjustment--I used to live an hour from London, and now I live an hour from a decent grocery store, but I have found that working hard, keeping busy and learning all I can, help me focus on more positive things as I grow as a wife, mother, artist, crafter, photographer, home-cook and now “Country-girl!” I hope you stay a while, and find something fun to read, cute to copy, or good to eat!